Washington Post: “U.S. Postal Service officials say they have the staffing and resources to handle the coming onslaught of holiday packages, and avoid a repeat of the disastrous 2020 season that brought mail delivery to a crawl.
“The agency outlined its holiday plans during a meeting Wednesday of its governing board. Ron Bloom, the panel’s chair, said the mail service has added dozens of package-sorting machines and will be able to process an additional 4.5 million parcels — an 18 percent increase — a day. It also plans to hire 40,000 seasonal workers. The moves are a direct result of the agency’s dismal 2020 metrics, according to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
“’Last year, for a variety of reasons, we were overwhelmed and were not able to meet the demands of the nation,’ he said. ‘We are ready, so send us your packages and your mail, and we will deliver timely.’ In December 2020, the Postal Service was delivering only 38 percent of nonlocal first-class mail on time, a historic drop. Lawmakers were inundated with complaints from constituents and business about late-arriving holiday packages and essentials such as medication, paychecks and bills.”